Asian markets were mixed Monday following a sell-off on Wall Street as investors scale back their bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts owing to worries Donald Trump could reignite inflation.A warning from US central bank boss Jerome Powell that reductions in borrowing costs were not preset dented optimism last week, while traders were also keeping tabs on the president-elect’s cabinet choices, with several China hawks lined up.Expectations that a second Trump administration will impose fresh painful tariffs on Chinese goods has added to the unease and ramped up fears of another trade war between the economic powerhouses.All three main indexes on Wall Street ended deep in the red Friday, with the Nasdaq down more than two percent, after Powell’s remarks the day before.After Trump’s victory at the start of the month, markets had already been winding back their expectations for the number of rate cuts the Fed would announce next year.The bank’s next policy decision in December will be closely followed for an idea about officials’ plans.Still, Philipp E. Bärtschi, chief investment officer at Bank J. Safra Sarasin, was upbeat about the outlook for equities.”The clear and swift outcome of the US elections reduced uncertainty and investors’ appetite for risk improved significantly,” he said in a note. “This trend is likely to continue in the coming weeks and ensure a positive year-end on the financial markets.”With the election of Donald Trump as US president, the volatility in macro forecasts is likely to increase due to his plans. Deregulation and tax cuts would accelerate nominal growth, while a trade war should slow growth. “Although many of Trump’s proposals will only have an impact after a delay — if at all — consumer sentiment and the business climate are likely to improve in the short term. A possible US recession has receded into the distant future.”In early Asian trade, Hong Kong and Sydney led gains, adding more than one percent each, while Singapore, Seoul, Wellington and Manila also rose.However, Tokyo dropped with Taipei and Jakarta, while Sydney was flat.The lowering of US rate cut expectations helped the dollar hold onto gains against its major peers, with investors also tracking comments from Japanese authorities amid speculation they could intervene in forex markets if the yen weakens too much too quickly. And bitcoin sat just above $90,000, having hit another record high of $93,462 last week on hopes Trump will push for more deregulation of the crypto market.Dealers were also awaiting the release of earnings from chip titan Nvidia this week, after the firm led a surge in tech firms this year owing to an explosion in demand for all things linked to artificial intelligence- Key figures around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 38,343.39 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.6 percent at 19,729.41Shanghai – Composite: UP 1.3 percent at 3,372.31Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0542 from $1.0536 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2634 from $1.2611Dollar/yen: UP at 154.82 yen from 154.32 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 83.44 pence from 83.52 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $67.07 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.2 percent at $71.17 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.7 percent at 43,444.99 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 8,063.61 (close) 

The founder of a failed Singapore oil trading company will be sentenced Monday for cheating banking giant HSBC out of millions of dollars in one of the country’s most serious cases of fraud.Lim Oon Kuin, better known as O.K. Lim, was convicted in May in the case that dented the city-state’s reputation as a top Asian oil trading hub.His firm, Hin Leong Trading, was among Asia’s biggest oil trading companies before its sudden and dramatic collapse in 2020.State Courts Judge Toh Han Li was due to sentence Lim at 2:30pm (0630GMT) Monday.State prosecutors are seeking a 20-year jail term for the octogenarian businessman, saying “this is one of the most serious cases of trade financing fraud that has ever been prosecuted in Singapore”.The defence is seeking seven years imprisonment, playing down the harm caused by Lim’s offences and citing his age and poor health.The businessman faced a total of 130 criminal charges involving hundreds of millions of dollars, but prosecutors tried and convicted him on just three — two of cheating HSBC, and a third of encouraging a Hin Leong executive to forge documents.Prosecutors said he tricked HSBC into disbursing nearly $112 million by telling the bank that his firm had entered into oil sales contracts with two companies.The transactions were, in fact, “complete fabrications, concocted on the accused’s directions”, prosecutors said, adding that his actions “tarnished Singapore’s hard-earned reputation as Asia’s leading oil trading hub”.- ‘Unprecedented turmoil’ -Lim built Hin Leong from a single delivery truck shortly before Singapore became independent in 1965.It grew into a major supplier of fuel used by ships, and its rise in some ways mirrored Singapore’s growth from a gritty port to an affluent financial hub.The firm played a key role in helping the city-state become the world’s top ship refuelling port, observers say, and it expanded into ship chartering and management with a subsidiary that has a fleet of more than 150 vessels.But it came crashing down in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic plunged oil markets into unprecedented turmoil, exposing Hin Leong’s financial troubles, and Lim sought court protection from creditors.In a bombshell affidavit seen by AFP in 2020, Lim revealed the oil trader had “in truth… not been making profits in the last few years” — despite having officially reported a healthy balance sheet in 2019.He admitted that the firm he founded after emigrating from China had hidden $800 million in losses over the years, while it also owed almost $4 billion to banks.Lim took responsibility for ordering the company not to report the losses and confessed it had sold off inventories that were supposed to backstop loans.